Electronic data processing systems for handling graphic data are well known in commercial, industrial, and scientific fields as a means to save time, space and manpower.
The industry presently utilizes graphic electronic data processing equipment which is comprised of three basic parts, a picture digitization unit, a computer processing unit and a graphic display unit. The picture digitization unit converts a picture such as an ordinary graph, engineering drawings, photographs and so forth into a complex form of binary numbers wherein the various portions of the binary number represents discrete portions of the illustration.
The group of binary numbers may be processed by a computer unit and manipulated in accordance with normal digital programing techniques. For instance the data may be altered such that when recreated, a different picture is generated, or measurements may be made from the data to provide information relating to the size and or ratio of the various portions of the original or modified image as represented by the digital data. The illustration in the form of digital data may be stored by any of a variety of means common to the computer industry and recalled by normal programming techniques for processing, manipulation or to create a visual recreation of the original or modified image.
The recreated visual display may be in the form of an electronically controlled ink drawing, a print out machine typing x's, o's, dashes, dots or other such symbols at certain specified points on a piece of paper in accordance with the stored digital data, a cathode ray tube screen display, a laser recording on a film based media, or any one of a number of graphic display apparatus adaptable to be controlled by a computer data output.
The present state-of-the-art of graphic electronic digital processing has a relatively coarse upper limit of precision in the converted data when compared to the precision of an ordinary photographic print. Also the cost of manufacturing a high precision graphic electronic data processing system is prohibitive and such systems designed within the present state-of-the-art are difficult to maintain.
A certain amount of degradation exists in present day graphic electronic data production equipment which results in linear precision errors of approximately one percent in even the most sophisticated system.